In the normal course of any surgical procedure, the surgeon may desire to have the blade on his scalpel changed numerous times since the sharpness of the blade is regarded as a prime prerequisite for effective surgery.
Initially, replaceable blades were removed manually, either by the surgeon or one of his assistants. Such manual removal of the blades has always presented the danger of a "slip" during the removal process which slip could result in cutting the flesh of the surgeon or other person undertaking the blade removal and replacement. With the advent of the danger presented by exposure to blood which may be contaminated by the HIV virus, those who may be involved in removing scalpel blades have become particularly sensitive to the possibility of being cut by a blade which may have been subjected to contact with contaminated blood. Consequently, attention has been given to devising means for effective blade removal other than manually. Thus, since at least 1981, a number of devices have been proposed to enable a surgeon to remove a blade from a scalpel without the necessity of digital contact with a possibly contaminated blade. Examples of such prior art efforts may be seen in the following United States patents: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,168,777, 4,270,416, 4,344,532, 4,395,807, 4,466,539, 4,730,376, 4,903,390 and 5,163,553.
However, despite the teachings of these patents, the present inventor in his work as a surgeon has not found any devices made in accordance with the teachings of these patents commercially available for one reason or another. Whether this is due to complexity, expensive cost of manufacture or ineffectiveness, has not been determined. However, the need exists for an inexpensive effective disposable blade removing device, and that need has not been satisfied prior to the present invention.